tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-98643342024-03-07T17:05:07.719-05:00The ChaliceblogChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.comBlogger2605125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-59614872734757773662019-03-05T23:34:00.002-05:002019-03-05T23:47:26.916-05:00Chalicechick goes Internet Shitgibbon: An open letter to a writer at the UU World(If you're a non-Unitarian friend of mine reading this because you like me, cool. Thanks! But this might get boring quick. The backstory here is that our usually on-point denominational magazine had an article about trans issues written by a cis woman with trans relations. The author seemed to think her story was the important part and said some really offensive things. My trans friends are trying to be super nice about it, I don't have to be.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.uuworld.org/articles/after-l-g-b?fbclid=IwAR2-0yTGOFyWq8NbjBul87p514NhmBNzvUK29536vx1O7r-lsDjNlvGZEho" target="_blank">The article I'm talking about</a><br />
<br />
A person whom I like and respect and who can out themselves if they so chose is preparing a response to the UU World article and specifically said that they don't want to be an internet shitgibbon toward the author. As a trans person who works in UUism professionally, they are smart to be so careful.<br />
<br />
I'm a ciswoman with trans family, putting myself in exactly the writer's position. Further, UU congregations don't pay any of my bills.<br />
<br />
So I'm going to return to the Chaliceblog's roots of saying what I damn well please.<br />
<br />
So, UU World writer, let's detail the ways you fucked up.<br />
<br />
<b>1. The article was all about you. </b><br />
Ok, so you've got some transfolks in your family. You took a while to come around to some of the concepts that are central to "transfolks are human and have a right to self-determination and your opinion about that self-determination isn't as mission critical as you might think."<br />
<br />
Cool, cool.<br />
<br />
Ok, more like "Suboptimal, suboptimal," but I get it, I've been there.<br />
<br />
Thing is, I did not treat my own personal fuckups as:<br />
1. A greater issue for UUism<br />
2. Universal among cis people<br />
3. Trans folks' responsibility to deal with<br />
4. A good subject for a lengthy and self-pitying article* in the denominational magazine.<br />
<br />
You did ALL OF THOSE THINGS.<br />
<br />
You're a big fish in what has to be a very small pond at your publication. You TOTALLY could have said "Hey, maybe a trans person should be writing this." Your decision not to do so is baffling to me, particularly since well-known trans folks in the denomination advised you to do exactly that. Sometimes the best way to be an ally is to hand over the mic. This would have been a good opportunity to do that. You chose not to--why? Is the story of your personal struggles really the one you thought our denomination needed to hear?<br />
<br />
<b>2. You have some boundary issues</b><br />
First off, please stop thinking so much about your family members' genitals. If we learned nothing else from Margaret Mead, we should know that doing so is creepy and weird. Volunteering information about your own genitals is not something members of polite society do, this goes double for asking other people about theirs, and like quintuple if they're kin.<br />
<br />
Can you accept that there's stuff that's none of your business?<br />
<br />
Even more central: there's stuff that's none of the rest of the world's business. <br />
<br />
You can't change the name of your kid, admit they are your kid, and pretend you've given them any privacy. Calvin Trillin once said that he stopped writing about his kids because adolescence is hard enough. I don't know your trans relations, but I'd bet cash money their lives are hard enough. Knock it off.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Get the fuck over the pronoun thing</b><br />
If you have trouble doing so with people you love, but have no trouble saying "Someone left their phone behind, I hope they come back for it!" then address that with a therapist, not the reading UU public.<br />
<br />
<b>4. When trans folks talk, LISTEN</b><br />
I'm writing this specifically aimed at the issues of a cis woman writing about trans relations. Your article has MANY MORE PROBLEMS THAN THAT from a trans perspective. Per Alex Kapitan's facebook post on the subject, you ignored the first time and several additional times you were informed of those issues. But you're going to get a lot of mail and there's going to be a lot of writing about how just tossing gender slurs into your article and how saying someone "identifies" as what they are is shitty. Please read those things, think about them, apply them to the way you treat other people and then...don't write about what you learn like basic human decency is an achievement for which you deserve a prize.<br />
<br />
<br />
CC<br />
<br />
*If you read the Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd's kickass book "After the Good News" and have confession and atonement on the brain, you might play Rabbi Kushner and imagine there was some of that going on here. It sounded like that to me. But I'm not an expert. Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-26669811202343251672017-04-03T22:52:00.004-04:002017-04-03T22:52:36.664-04:00A lazy viewer’s guide to the UUA Candidates’ Forum with superfluous commentary because me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsSD9-AGJTA<div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
Lots of opinions within.
If you disagree, um, put it on the internet. That’s pretty much what the internet is
for. If you think I missed something, you’re
probably right, point it out. That’s one
of the reasons I provided time stamps. I
haven’t endorsed anybody, but literally each candidate has been endorsed by someone
I love and respect in UUism, so this is me writing what I see. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the love of Mike, share this if you care about UUA
inside baseball. If you don’t, writing
it was a huge waste of time, admittedly time when I was in a hotel room on a
business trip anyway:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
27:22 Candidates
actually start talking. Starts with the
Rev. Pupke. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
39:30 Chalicechick first realizes that the Rev. Frederick
Gray looks a lot like Velma from Scooby Doo.
This is NOT a criticism. But she
spends the rest of her argument talking about anti-racism and the conservative
climate in America. Whether this should
legit be the first priority or is playing to the crowd with topical issue, or
both, is something I still haven’t figured out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">43:50</span>:
Candidates first start answering questions.
First question is a request for “Pastoral Advice” in the wake of President
Morales’ resignation. I like this
question in that all three are pastors and presumably all actually WROTE
pastoral letters to their own congregations.
So this gives a chance to show of pastoral style, something I thought
was lacking in the Rev. Morales. The
response after is the Rev. Miller, giving what sounds more like institutional priorities
than pastoral advice. It’s not a bad
answer. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">47:10 The Rev.
Frederick Gray gives what sounds like solid pastoral advice to this layperson. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> 49:28 The Rev. Pupke says that she’s not going
to give pastoral advice, then gives pastoral advice. What she has to say is good and on some level
inspiring, but that part was weird. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">51:48 The Rev.
Frederick Gray’s answer begins to a question about the role of both the UUA and
the congregations in the role for Black Lives. She says good things, but makes no significant
distinction between the work of the association and work of the
congregations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">54:00 The Rev. Pupke’s answer begins with a
shoutout to polity and she keeps that theme throughout<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">56:20 The Rev. Miller
brings up a specific example of the Black Lives Matter movement’s working with
her own congregation and mostly focuses on the congregational level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> 58:46 Three part question: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">How are you dismantling your own white
supremacy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">How will you help the UUA dismantle ITS own white
supremacy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">How will you help congregations and congregants
to dismantle white supremacy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">59:02 The Rev. Pupke’s
answer begins with a weird lesbian joke, then reads “the Richmond Pledge” which
sounds good, I guess. But, that was her
answer to the whole question. Lesbian
joke and Richmond pledge. So, yeah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:00:48 The Rev. Miller credibly hits all three parts
of the question. Nicely done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:04:00 The Rev. Frederick Gray talks about
dismantling her white privilege by getting arrested in Arizona and the police
harassment that followed. Not sure I
entirely get that, but her sincerity is clear.
Answered some on the UUA part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:06:08 Question about the idea of adding an eighth
UU principle around anti-racism. If you’ve
talked UUism with me at any length, you know that any candidate who was like “Let’s
throw out the seven principles all together” would have gotten my vote. Also,
part of the question was “where does this rank among goals you’d like to
achieve as president?” which in part makes no sense since the wording of the
Seven Principles is a GA decision and doesn’t really fall into a president’s
power except in the most indirect way.
But all three candidates ignored the “ranking it as a goal” part anyway
so I guess they get that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:06:48 The Rev.
Miller supports it, but is focused on the process of changing the seven
principles rather than exactly what a rewritten set of principles would look
like. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:08:42 The Rev.
Frederick Gray supports the inclusion, but then starts in on her leadership
vision for reasons I don’t get, then kinda circles back around to the principle
in a vague way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:11:14 The Rev. Pupke
wants the eighth principle a lot and promises it, more or less. Then she implies that the seven principles
are a “highly revered document” (sigh) and gives a shoutout to The Rev.
McDonald Ladd (yay!) in the same 30 seconds.
So I will call that a draw. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:13 or so: the
candidates have a weird little Chip-and-Dale-style “after you, no, after YOU”
exchange about who gets to be the first one to answer the next question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:14:17 Question about if there’s a budget shortfall
a couple of years from now, what will their top three priorities be<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:14:26 The Rev.
Frederick Gray:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Justice and Anti-Racism<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Transitions and ministerial settlement<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Standing on the side of love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But also, raising
money to FIX the budget shortfall. No,
wait, that’s her first priority. Which
actually seems like the best answer to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:17:03 The Rev. Pupke
points out we’re IN a budget shortfall now, and pushes for congregations to be
Fair Share. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Training to me an ARAOMC* organization. Then she talks about her logo, it was weird. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Begin a more articulate messaging of who we are
and what we do<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Then she says those are her three priorities. Maybe the fair share thing was supposed to be
one. Dunno. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:19:15 The Rev Miller begins with what sounds like a
shoutout to having done a Hillary-Clinton-style “listening tour,” which I, for
one, find endearing. Her priorities:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Fundraising on both the UUA and congregational
levels, since congregations often cut funding of the UUA because they are
having to choose between cutting staff and cutting the contribution. Good point<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Supporting ministry in the field. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Empowering the congregations to be involved in “holistic
social justice” which is way less hippie than the phrase suggests. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:22 Question is,
essentially, “how much of the UUA president job is a CEO and how much is being
a prophetic voice? Also, how are you
going to lead the senior staff?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:22:18 The Rev. Pupke has lead lots of stuff, but
credits those beneath her with growth and success. She wants to “liberate’” the UUA. I have no idea what this means. She wants to build trust and get lots of
buy-in. I think this all means she’s
Team CEO on that question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:24:40 The Rev Miller: There are four main aspects:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The prophetic voice within the faith<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The voice to the world<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The CEO<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Helvetica;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Fundraising.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And she hits her
experience with the last two. The Rev.
Miller is good at bullet points and breaking things down. If ministry ever doesn’t work out for her,
she’d do well in law school. Anyway, she
didn’t directly say CEO either, but her answer strongly implied it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:27:06 The Rev. Frederic
Gray combines the Rev. Miller’s first two categories but otherwise accepts
them. Then she was like “the UUA doesn’t
need a better manager,” with which I tend to disagree, but said some good
things about leadership. She talked
about setting a collaborative culture.
She’s not as strongly team CEO and seems to have taken the question as
primarily being about the CEO style<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:30:00 Question is
like “I’m curious as to if you’ve given thought to evangelical-style growth”
and then goes into church planting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:30:12ish The Rev. Alison Miller is highly
pro-planting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:33:10 The Rev.
Frederick Gray is less of a church planting fan and wants to shore up the
congregations we’ve got and focus on mission.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">1:36 The Rev. Pupke
gave the “have you given any thought to this obvious thing” aspect the snarky
tone it deserved. High five, Rev.
Pupke. Her suggestion is that we show up
for social justice and grow through our commitment to our values</span><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="4yxo"><span style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> *</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;"> </span><span style="outline: 0px;">“</span></span></span><span class="4yxo"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; line-height: 115%; padding: 0in;">Anti-racism,
Anti-oppression, and Multiculturalism</span>” No judgment, I had to look it up
too. Explain your acronyms, people.</span><br />
</span><br />
<span class="4yxo">
</span><span class="4yxo"><span style="background: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-69895310399768805332016-09-12T23:55:00.001-04:002016-09-13T00:11:36.926-04:00You can tell I really think I'm fucked when I start looking at hair colors - a stream-of-conciousness post<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are two stages to my terror when faced with a large personal/professional obligation:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Research</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2. Primping</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first one of these is actually a pretty good reaction. When I am taking a matter seriously, I look it up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Until very recently, I was constantly getting in trouble with my friends who were passionate about a subject. They'd say </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"CC," (Truth be told only one set of very old friends calls me CC, but blog conventions must be honored) "This is an incredibly big deal! <i>A </i>is true!" and I'd say "huh." Then I'd go home, often worried, and I'd look it up and the next day I'd send them an email like.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Hey, guess what. <i>A</i> is <i>mostly</i> true. But <i>B</i> is <i>also</i> sometimes true. So the situation is not quite so bad as you'd feared."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It turns out, it took me 37 years and change to understand, people who are passionate about things hate this. They want to focus on the black and white of the situation, and to be looking at an awful situation in its face. They want the situation to be as bad as they feel it is. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some years ago, I lost a person who was extremely important to me over this. (No, not theCSO. TheCSO does this herself. Ours is a marriage in which being technically correct is the best kind of correct and we're both happy that way.) Anyway, this person who was very important to me got into an argument over a really silly topic and when I emailed some more information, this person who was very important to me decided not to be friends anymore because she was tired of fighting with me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wasn't FIGHTING, I thought at the time, I was HELPING. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I still never got my person back. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sometimes in my dreams she calls me up and we work it out. Waking up is kind of a bummer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year, I made another friend who was passionate about things. At one point, we talked it out and now when she says <i>A</i> is true, I am present for her in her truth because while I may have boring hair, I'm not stupid. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But back to the hair coloring. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This person I lost some years ago was something of a mother figure, and parenting is on my mind for reasons that I trust will become obvious though I haven't exactly figured out what I'm writing next because that's how this whole stream-of-consciousness thing works. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After the research phase, and I have had the research phase, ask me anything about guardianship law, comes the primping phase, in which I decide that if I am a mess inside, surely looking good outside will hide that. Even as I type, I'm aware that this is as stupid as it sounds. I kid you not, the night before my first law school class, I dropped like fifty bucks on those Isreali sea salt beauty products that they sell at the mall. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wore entirely new clothes for both days of the bar and afterwards was tempted to burn them so I'd wear them for no lesser event. I didn't. I'm too cheap to do that and I wear unnatural fibers so the smell would have been awful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So, yeah, when three days before my Aunt's guardianship hearing, I start checking groupon for a good deal on a cut, maybe some highlights to frame my face, that's a really bad sign. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Probate court in the District of Columbia is a very strange thing. My favorite thing about it, and I do have a favorite thing, is that they have the wills of various historical figures framed and up on the walls. I am totally not making this up. You can go to the DC probate court and see a page from Dolly Madison's will. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On Thursday, barring the unforeseen, I'm going to probate court to accept legal responsibility for my Aunt. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you're my facebook friend, you've followed some of this. If you've been reading TheChaliceBlog for a really long time, you know her as TheChaliceRelative. Either way, she's my aunt, and she's 86* and she's not really my aunt anymore because she no longer knows some of the things my aunt knows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She tells me I should lose weight because she's my aunt. That doesn't hurt my feelings because she's not anymore so I kinda don't give a fuck what she thinks of my physique. She has Schrodinger's personality and on Thursday it becomes my job to be responsible for her. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">She's in a home that does a flawed but reasonable job taking care of her. They would like guardianship but I'm probably going to get it. I consider myself the world's okayest caregiver.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last time she was in the hospital, I had to meet with the social worker when she was released. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"I'm what she's got," I said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What about your parents?" the social worker said. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"My dad's an unmedicated schizophrenic who has had a lot of strokes. M</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">y mom is occupied with him,"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Does your aunt have any other brothers or sisters?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"They're dead."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"What about you, do you have siblings?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"My brothers are not in a position to care for other people." I paused. "I'm what she's got."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It went on like that. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm what she's got now, and I'm not sure that the probable result of Thursday will change much of that. Mostly, it will be me doing more paperwork. I was explaining this to her last Friday and she said that it was bizarre to imagine me with that job because I was so terrible at arithmetic. She said that because she's my aunt, it didn't hurt because she's not. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
Right now I'm thinking about Pema Chodron, with whom I'm obsessed right now, writing: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the hospital social worker painstakingly drew out of me above, I don't have much of a nest as far as blood relations go. (My self-constructed nest of friends is awesome, though.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Still, there's something to note in getting thrown out of the two twigs stuck together that is the nest represented by an aunt who is partly not. I don't feel alive and fully human and completely awake. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I feel like getting my hair cut and colored in hopes that maybe when I look in the mirror, I will see a different person, ideally one more equipped to deal with the situation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, anyway, I'm thinking tomorrow I will call up a few hair salons. I don't have the cash to keep up baylage and I'm fairly certain ombre is on the way out, so maybe I'll just get gloss. I don't really want to change the color. Just monkey with it a little. Give it some shape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hair never has shape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'd like to look like me, for court, but also not me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CC </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">* Non-stream of consciousness footnote: My Dad was a late-in-life accident. I was a sort of mid-life accident. Aside from making my very existence improbable, this also means that the generations in my family are kinda fucked up, which is how I have an aunt almost fifty years older than I am.</span>Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-45777944135299535962016-08-01T23:24:00.001-04:002016-08-01T23:24:31.709-04:00A 100-year-old political sermon<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I gave a concise (for me) version of an old-school (because 2006 is old-school) Chaliceblog rant over the weekend about political issues from the pulpit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In my defense, I was asked. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I summarized my, admittedly very conservative, opinion as: <i>If you are tempted to preach about an issue (probably ok), a person (not a good idea) or a bill (really not a good idea), ask yourself "if I am risking my tax-exempt status to preach this, is it worth it?" And proceed accordingly.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know this isn't a new set of standards. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anyway, thinking over this rule of mine yesterday, there is a political figure whom I'd very much like to hear a sermon about:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Susan B. Anthony. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I don't necessarily want to hear that sermon before election day, because I don't want to raise the spectre of Hillary Clinton's fondness for the suffragettes. I don't want to hear about Susan B. Anthony as a metaphor for Hillary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I want to hear about Anthony herself, her flaws and the proper way to look at her and the way she and the suffragettes achieved the just result using some terrible methods. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Susan B. Anthony, beloved famous Unitarian, was not, in fact, as racist as some of her c</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ontemporaries. But she said some pretty terrible things. One thing she wrote to her BFF Elizabeth Cady Stanton* in 1884 sums up my issue with her nicely:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">“I have but </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">one question, that of equality between the sexes—that of the races has no place on </span><span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">our platform."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;">Let that one sink in for a moment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">This is, by far actually, not the worst thing a suffragette ever said. Her fellow suffragettes were even </span><a href="http://the-toast.net/2014/04/21/suffragettes-sucked-white-supremacy-womens-rights/" style="font-family: georgia, "times new roman", serif;" target="_blank">more blatant</a><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"> about tossing around the idea that giving women the vote was an awesome way to maintain white supremacy. Their willingness to throw people of color under the bus has made it very clear that they were really, truly, fighting for rights of women primarily like themselves. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">That said, I am an educated, upper-middle class woman like them I sure do appreciate that right to vote I've got. Women haven't actually had it all that long. My grandmother was born before women had the right to vote, though we'd admittedly attained it by the time she was old enough to actually vote. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I realize, as the tumblr kids say, "All your faves are problematic," and I can't even say that Susan B. Anthony was one of my faves. But two things bother me:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">1. I draw a distinction, reasonable or not, between "your rights/needs are on my agenda, they just aren't on the top" and "I will actively demonize you to make my position seem more reasonable." Anthony did some of both, though she tended toward the first, that quote at the top of the page notwithstanding. Lots of suffragettes picked option B and I haven't seen any indication that Anthony told them to cut it out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">2. These women seem to have at best ignored the reality of the pre-voting-act black voting experience, and at worst straight up lied about it. To hear Carrie Chapman Catt (founder of the League of Women Voters) talk, black folks were voting all over the place and white women needed to have the vote lest black men end up entirely in charge. "“White supremacy will be strengthened, not weakened, by women’s suffrage,” she said, in what I can only guess was a comforting tone? <a href="http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/articles/245/mississippi-women-and-the-woman-suffrage-amendment," target="_blank">cite</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">History has a lot of casualties. I know this. A lot of buildings I'm fond of, from the Great Pyramids to the White House, were build by slaves and I don't really know how to value the buildings without devaluing the slaves. Maybe they would have been built without it, just as I'm sure I would have the vote BY NOW even if the suffragettes hadn't resorted to such terrible tactics. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">But my grandmother deserved that vote too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">I like to tie things up in a package. "History is just like that" would be one way to do so, but I'm not there yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">Still trying to figure this one out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">CC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ps. Lots more <a href="http://digital.library.upenn.edu/ebooks-public/pdfs/0195086929.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*Who had "it sure is degrading that white women can't vote when all these lesser people totes can" as a favorite topic. Most memorably: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"</span><span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">“…but now, as the celestial gate to civil rights is slowly moving on its hinges, it becomes a serious question whether we had better stand aside and see “Sambo” walk into the kingdom first. . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;">“Think of Patrick and Sambo and Hans and Yung Tung who do not know the difference between a Monarchy and a Republic, who never read the Declaration of Independence . . . making laws for Lydia Maria Child, Lucretia Mott, or Fanny Kemble.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: georgia, times new roman, serif;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=gXOan-fUeCMC&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=%E2%80%9C%E2%80%A6but+now,+as+the+celestial+gate+to+civil+rights+is+slowly+moving+on+its+hinges,+it+becomes+a+serious+question+whether+we+had+better+stand+aside+and+see+%E2%80%9CSambo%E2%80%9D+walk+into+the+kingdom+first.+.+.+.++%E2%80%9CThink+of+Patrick+and+Sambo+and+Hans+and+Yung+Tung+who+do+not+know+the+difference+between+a+Monarchy+and+a+Republic,+who+never+read+the+Declaration+of+Independence+.+.+.+making+laws+for+Lydia+Maria+Child,+Lucretia+Mott,+or+Fanny+Kemble.%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=fiokBr_jFP&sig=SeZpKto5GRP_5dJdbJ7AXc0epg8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijubb23KHOAhXKHB4KHT-LC6sQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9C%E2%80%A6but%20now%2C%20as%20the%20celestial%20gate%20to%20civil%20rights%20is%20slowly%20moving%20on%20its%20hinges%2C%20it%20becomes%20a%20serious%20question%20whether%20we%20had%20better%20stand%20aside%20and%20see%20%E2%80%9CSambo%E2%80%9D%20walk%20into%20the%20kingdom%20first.%20.%20.%20.%20%20%E2%80%9CThink%20of%20Patrick%20and%20Sambo%20and%20Hans%20and%20Yung%20Tung%20who%20do%20not%20know%20the%20difference%20between%20a%20Monarchy%20and%20a%20Republic%2C%20who%20never%20read%20the%20Declaration%20of%20Independence%20.%20.%20.%20making%20laws%20for%20Lydia%20Maria%20Child%2C%20Lucretia%20Mott%2C%20or%20Fanny%20Kemble.%E2%80%9D&f=false" target="_blank">cite</a></span><br />
<br />
Cady Stanton was, thank goodness, an Episcopalian. Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-89726053763413922016-07-26T23:23:00.003-04:002016-07-26T23:23:54.690-04:00Safe spaces, or lack thereof<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I'm still very much a humanist, but I'm a pretty open minded one who believes in metaphor, so part of my spiritual journey is listening to people whose beliefs differ radically from my own. I was listening to a well-informed pagan talk about his faith this evening. He said a lot of things that I'm still chewing over*, but what I think struck me the most was at the very beginning of what he had to say. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He talked about ritual having to be in a safe space. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">'There is no safe space,' that voice in the back of my head, one that seems neither still nor small, insisted. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew what he meant, intellectually at least. But my instinctive response doesn't seem entirely inaccurate either. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A lot of what white people have been figuring out over the last ten years or so is that the places that seem the most safe to us are still dangerous to people of color. I can't speak to that, I can say that having my spouse "out" as a transgendered person has brought home how safety out on society exists on a bunch of levels. Legal protections can't prevent the actions of people willing to break the law, or even the petty-but-not-illegal humiliations that a depressing number of people are capable of. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">bell hooks even observed "<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 21px;">“The practice of love offers no place of safety. We risk loss, hurt, pain. We risk being acted upon by forces outside our control.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 21px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is no safety, not really. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a pagan circle we can, a few dozen people in a room, declare a safe space, but don't we on some level know it to be otherwise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pagans aren't the only ones who demand safe places for our religious practices, of course. The <i>Hunchback of Notre Dame</i>'s Esmerelda demanded sanctuary in the cathedral and they gave it to her. In a metaphoric sense, we might go to a congregation looking for a place in the world that lets us be with ourselves without the distractions of modern life bugging us, at least for the hour between 11:00am and noon. (Sanctuary from the modern world is something I have never known myself to want. But I know other people do.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ultimately Esmerelda left the cathedral. Noon comes, and even the most quiet-loving congregant has to go back out in the world. The safe physical spaces are always temporary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what about a safe space? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The best I can do for a safe space is to have one in your own head, and maybe in times of ritual or other deep spiritual connection entertain the idea of letting someone else in. That in itself is a tall order. But maybe there's something to be said for noticing the times, rare in my case, where one does feel truly safe, drinking that in and keeping it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I can't say I have a better idea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrtqWoJ6sxH33XcdEvI9ZHDw7bVZOdKu8ZVTJwpTZAw-b2osAvD3xOkaCs3IFG54oeeMfFskkuYiBW3rayV-Y2BxNYMbLwDLi_huO9nPPWCNUkzD0JsXIcTU69PNjVIBY3zIkwZg/s1600/refuge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrtqWoJ6sxH33XcdEvI9ZHDw7bVZOdKu8ZVTJwpTZAw-b2osAvD3xOkaCs3IFG54oeeMfFskkuYiBW3rayV-Y2BxNYMbLwDLi_huO9nPPWCNUkzD0JsXIcTU69PNjVIBY3zIkwZg/s1600/refuge.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
(Image of a sign in the library basement of Georgetown Law that reads "Area of Refuge is Within")</div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*I love the idea of a sort of ritual that lets you safely practice a situation that gives you difficulty in regular life, forcing you to respond to it a different way, for example. I am something of an introspection nerd and have a long list of such situations I could work on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't think "introspection nerd" and "obsessive narcissist" are the same thing, though one could probably make a good argument that the are. </span>Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-11852173413531276372016-07-04T09:49:00.002-04:002016-07-04T09:49:39.186-04:00Totall UU inside baseball: A layperson has questions and opinions on ableism<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've had a couple of discussions about the ableism, and ableist language, issue where I've been varying degrees of welcome due to my being a layperson who isn't actually in this conversation. I've actually talked about this a lot with a lot of ministers, though, and if an outside view is helpful, here you go. (If it's not, I assume you didn't click on the post.) </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously, these questions come from a point of view, because pending more facts, I think I've come to one:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- When I was a kid in the 1980's and "retard' was the playground insult of choice, even MY PARENTS (not known for political correctness, my dad doesn't believe in recycling) told me that nice people don't compare their friends to the mentally retarded. It's just something decent people don't say. The explanation, as I recall it, was something like: "The mentally retarded are often good people and they have difficult lives and the last thing they need is to be somebody's symbol or somebody's insult." </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So... If my parents are a reasonably conservative cultural barometer, we've been hip to the idea that casually talking about the MENTALLY disabled as lesser isn't cool since like 1985. Why is talking about the PHYSICALLY disabled so different?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- Someone I talked about this with it hip to how comparing the spiritually unenlightened to the blind or the deaf is not OK, but is quite strident on the point of wanting use language implying, or spelling out, the superiority of those who can walk. What's the difference there?</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-Working on accessibility issues within our congregations is absolutely a higher priority. But to me the argument of "we should be working on installing ramps rather than working on using different language" makes the opposite of sense. If we're cleaning up our language, we're spending a lot of time thinking about how to be good to folks who have trouble walking. In general, my impression is that meetings in non-accessible spaces don't happen because a meeting planner is like "MUAHAHAHA I will EXCLUDE the DISABLED." But because they don't think about it. I have no idea why getting people to think about their language WOULDN'T get them thinking about the larger issues. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Is the concern that a minister will spend so much time thinking about improving their metaphors that they won't have TIME to ask for ramps, or what? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">- Y'all do realize that the newbie minister at the center of this* isn't calling for the end of all metaphor, or even the end of all body metaphor? She wrote on her public facebook page "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 19.32px;">Able bodies are some of the bodies, and as such, must be included in our liturgy. At the same time, they are not the only bodies. (More is possible.) In addition, the really important question is whether metaphors set up able bodies to be the best and disabled bodies to be the worst. (Our bodies are awesome.)"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">- As I wrote here a lot in my blogging days, I think slippery slope arguments are inherently kind of dumb and the refuge of people who want to paint dramatic fictional situations to hide their lack of facts. But my objection has, shockingly, not lead the world to stop using them. The slippery slope argument du jour seems to be "If we get rid of ableist metaphor, pretty soon we will have to get rid of ALL metaphor" </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oddly, I heard this same argument one time when I posted something on facebook about how writers really need to knock it off with the "comparing the skin tone of people of color to food and beverages" thing. I had writer friends respond with horror at the idea of, I don't know, not being able to get across to their readers that a black woman is beautiful if they can't talk about her "cafe au lait skin" in exactly those cliched terms.**</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But I can't believe that we didn't have those arguments back when the subject was "the superiority of white over dark" and "the superiority of the masculine and the feminine." And metaphors about light and darkness and maleness and femaleness AREN'T entirely gone. We're just more mindful about how we use them. We do better.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why are people so objecting to doing better here?</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CC</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">*FWIW, newbie lawyers do not start big arguments within bar associations. So good on UUism for being a different sort of environment. And I really think the newbie minister's courage is to be commended. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">** My skin is pale and freckled, not unlike a Shepard's pie with paprika sprinkled on top. </span></div>
Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-10514342673206858232016-03-03T17:35:00.000-05:002016-03-03T17:35:01.328-05:00Tell me where is virtue bred...?In general, I intend this to be for journaling about that which is greater than myself. That said, my thoughts have been pretty much in this realm for the past couple of weeks. I've been helping a friend build his wife a porch on the weekends (I love manual labor in a privileged thank-goodness-I-don't-have-to-do-this-everyday way. Helping people move is my favorite, but building projects are a close second) and I've just started reading Patricia Highsmith's <em>Carol.</em><br />
<br />
I'd have more to write about here if I were reading more theology, even popular theology, but I'm afraid lesbian crime novels are more my speed these days. I'm still halfway through <em>The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in Corporate America. </em><br />
<br />
Having read a lot of stoic writers, but very aware at how bad at Stoicism I am, I try to keep up reading on that too. But I keep getting caught up in questions of how to maintain virtue. I'm not making excuses, I hope, when I note that a lot of the good qualities that make up a virtuous character are a lot easier to get when you're more secure in life and have had a reasonable childhood. I do feel like I have to work really hard at things like having an OK relationship with anger and accepting life's hardships in a way that someone who has been kicked around by life less might not. <br />
<br />
One of the things I don't like about the way that human minds are put together is that problems tend to compound each other. For example, if your <a href="http://acestoohigh.com/got-your-ace-score/"> Adverse Childhood Experiences score </a> is high enough, you're at a greater risk for, among other things, a bunch of mental illnesses. I look at all the ideals of human excellence I'm shooting for, and it seems like a high score on a test like that one makes qualities I want to work for all the more difficult to attain. <br />
<br />
Not that there's anyplace to file a complaint... Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-41724436058151080632016-02-29T12:47:00.003-05:002016-02-29T12:47:43.512-05:00Sometimes I think I'd be a better person if Randal would yell at me every day<pre> RANDAL
: (suddenly outraged)
Fuck you. Fuck you, pal. Listen to
you trying to pass the buck again.
I'm the source of all your misery.
Who closed the store to play hockey?
Who closed the store to attend a
wake? Who tried to win back an ex-
girlfriend without even discussing
how he felt with his present one?
You wanna blame somebody, blame
yourself.
(beat, as DANTE)
"I'm not even supposed to be here
today."
(whips stuff at DANTE)
You sound like an asshole. Whose
choice was it to be here today?
Nobody twisted your arm. You're
here today of your own violation,
my friend. But you'd like to
believe that the weight of the
world rests on your shoulders-that
the store would crumble if Dante
wasn't here. Well, I got news for
you, jerk: This store would survive
without you. Without me either. All
you do is overcompensate for having
what's basically a monkey's job:
You push fucking buttons. Any moron
can waltz in here and do our jobs,
but you're obsessed with making it
seem so much more fucking important,
so much more epic than it really is.
You work in a convenience store,
Dante. And badly, I might add. And
I work in a shitty video store.
Badly, as well.
(beat)
You know, that guy Jay's got it
right-he has no delusions about
what he does. Us? We like to make
ourselves seem so much better than
the people that come in here, just
looking to pick up a paper or-God
forbid-cigarettes. We look down on
them, as it we're so advanced.
Well, if we're so fucking advanced,
then what are we doing working here?
</pre>
<br />
-Clerks<br />
<br />
Possible actual spiritual reflection to follow, later today. I'm halfway through David Whyte's <em>The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of Soul in Corporate America</em>, which is basically his book-length response to <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/poetry/gioia/gioia.htm"> Can Poetry Matter? </a> Of all the book-length responses to that essay I've read, it may be my favorite, though. <br />
<br />
CCChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-75654086424694663942016-02-26T19:50:00.000-05:002016-02-26T19:50:44.959-05:00Sometimes, the douchebags are correctI've had a lot of things on my mind recently, not the least of which is the upshot I got from reading Harry Markopolos' <i>No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller</i> about his attempts to get the Securities and Exchange Commission to go after Bernie Madoff. For some reason, he had huge problems getting the SEC to take him seriously.<br />
<br />
The thing is, I can tell what the problem was from reading the man's own words: the dude was a huge douchebag. In his book, he talks about how he wanted to give his fiancee silicone breast implants for an engagement present, he tells endless annoying jokes and he makes it extremely clear that he is the smartest man in any given room. I would not hang out with this guy for anything. <br />
<br />
At the same time, there are plenty of people who think low things about me, and I'm right sometimes. I'm not sure how I feel about the degree to which the way in which we present ourselves impacts how our message is received, or if it is received at all. Part of me wants us all to be a bit more open minded, part of me wants those of us with truths to say to figure out how to present ourselves so our words will be heard. Maybe if we reach toward each other, we will touch a bit more often.<br />
<br />
I grant you that this isn't the most earthshaking insight, but it's what I've got today.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-56718007086987400002016-02-18T21:48:00.001-05:002016-02-18T21:48:14.747-05:00A symbol of my spiritual journeyThe assignment was "draw a container and what goes in the container." We were later told that the container is practice and the contents are spiritual calling.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPyRW1qANYx18UzbX5qh_bFPkZwsXEYW86NifaevSiI-dSqFqNRO07DIhagZNR5ImFXZHM-KXyjElzzoJDrO3VbYBjnwPwdHDcPmVWs61xP-5leRl8IAzma5W3A5xTygkNY03ww/s1600/IMG_4813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvPyRW1qANYx18UzbX5qh_bFPkZwsXEYW86NifaevSiI-dSqFqNRO07DIhagZNR5ImFXZHM-KXyjElzzoJDrO3VbYBjnwPwdHDcPmVWs61xP-5leRl8IAzma5W3A5xTygkNY03ww/s1600/IMG_4813.JPG" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Interpretations welcome.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-50917222642095135712016-02-18T12:56:00.002-05:002016-02-18T12:56:53.220-05:00Impermanent beauty and the preservation of things. I read <em>the Goldfinch</em> a couple of years ago. Its major theme is that preservation of beauty is, if not as important as creation of beauty, at least a worthy passion in itself. That's pretty self-evident, on some level, but I easily get lost in the details when I try to think too hard about some aspects of it. <br />
<br />
For example, when the characters in the book seek to "preserve" the stolen painting, the first thing they do is protect it from the elements in every possible way. This makes sense. But, to put it mildly, not everything can or should be preserved in the way that a painting can be preserved. <br />
<br />A flower, for example, can be preserved in glass, or photographed, but really the best thing we can do is grow another flower. I've made a good friend who is a baker, and truly an artist with bread. Nothing teaches you about the impermanence of perfection like that. Her bread, on the night it's baked is the most amazing stuff ever. A few days later, still very good. A few days like that, bird food. So, goodness, eat it while you can. <br />
<br />
I talk a good game about being able to let things go, and to be better able to let beauty and other good things go, accepting their impermanence, is something I'm really working on philosophically at the moment, but I think everyone's a preserver on some level. We think "this thing is awesome and I don't want it to change and try to fight for the status quo." I'm trying not to be this person, but I'm human and I tend to cling to things and people in a way I feel like a smarter, more self-sufficient, person wouldn't. <br />
<br />
Indeed, on some level I think keeping things at arm's length is the best way to truly enjoy their beauty. One of the ironies of <em>The Goldfinch</em> was that the main character kept his painting so carefully locked away, for many years he didn't look at it himself. <br />
<br />
CC<br />
who is aware that her posts here wander around to whatever I'm thinking about at the time I sit down to write. At the same time, I figure that as long as I'm keeping the focus loosely on "that which is greater than myself" I'm doing something of spiritual value. <br />
<br />
Also just saw Deadpool last night. It kicked ass. Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-40605996124790167982016-02-16T21:15:00.002-05:002016-02-16T21:15:48.763-05:00Smart and selfish bears. I spent last weekend at a convention so I was completely out of nature's path. Ian can't stand going to a con and never leaving the hotel, but I like the bubble of being surrounded only by one's fellow attendees. At one point, I looked up and could see the snow coming down onto the hotel's glass roof but I was out of the cold for days. <br />
<br />
There are a lot of people who have great reverence for nature. I'm fairly certain nature will kill me if it can. So I relish being out of its grip. The sheer glee I get from being able to avoid nature is irrational, probably, but it's there. <br />
<br />
Air conditioning is an ecological nightmare, but it's also among my favorite things. Like, one time @RevGlenrose asked us to list our favorite things alphabetically and "central A/C" was my choice for "C." Though I don't have a medical need for air conditioning, sigh, you now have that in writing, I know that "summer comes to New Orleans, a bunch of people die from the heat" used to be a thing and now is at least a far less common thing. <br />
<br />
There was an episode of Yogi Bear, and I'm almost certain I'm not making this up, where Yogi Bear caused some catastrophe and Ranger Smith, exasperated, asked why Yogi couldn't be just a regular bear and hang out in the woods out of trouble. No, instead Yogi had to be a smart and selfish bear and involve himself in wacky hijinks, causing the catastrophe that I'm almost cure occurred in the episode of Yogi Bear I kind of remember. Anyway, by the end of the episode, Yogi had gotten the park, himself, and Ranger Smith out of trouble. Us inventive bears are resourceful that way. <br />
<br />
Obviously, I'm going for a metaphor here. It is humanity's nature to be smart and selfish bears and I like that about us, even if I do wonder what it will mean for the world. Will we the inventive bears always be able to save ourselves? I'm inclined to say yes, but maybe I'm just rationalizing that air conditioning habit.<br />
<br />
Today I had to wait until the ice was melting to get on the road to work, once again at nature's mercy. She wins in the long run, I suppose, no matter how smart a bear you are.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-72489869836280039602016-02-11T00:40:00.000-05:002016-02-11T00:40:12.622-05:00Fear as the Root of Evil: An Explanation. So, I started rereading <i>The Gift of Fear.</i> I'm only a couple of chapters back into it and I'd forgotten most of it. I think for a lot of it I'm going to need to have a sort of division in my head between de Becker's concepts of "fear" and "intuition" and my own. <br />
<br />
Because, as I wrote the other day, I'm not entirely sure that fear isn't the root of evil*. One of the reasons I am such a great fan of reason and using logic to talk myself down is that I have quite the overactive amygdala. At heart, I am very much the "Oh shit, the boss is looking at me funny, I'm going to get fired" person. I've been working on these instincts for literally my entire adult life and am pretty good at talking myself down out of a tree. But the instincts are still there and the slow parade of all the reasons I don't suck comes in handy more often than I enjoy talking about.<br />
<br />
In <i>The Beekeeper's Apprentice</i> there's this kickass scene where Sherlock is telling his teenage apprentice (I KNOW**) that on some level, every crime is self defense. He later goes on to explain to her in no uncertain terms why self-defense on most levels is not something one is justified in killing over, because duh, but I think his point is interesting and deserves more thought than the pleasant little novel it is in has time to give it. <br />
<br />
Several years ago, I decided that "victims" were the single scariest group ever. Just about everyone who had ever done anything awful considered themself a victim and thus fully justified in whatever awfulness they committed. (Obligatory Godwin's law example: the Germans' victimization by the Treaty of Versailles.) I've been through unpleasantness here and there but I've vowed to not ever consider myself a victim of anything, because rationalization is already my superpower and I don't need the extra help to justify my own actions. <br />
<br />
I am a better person, when I don't let fear win, when I experience the gratitude at the goodness and abundance of what is around me (though I also try to remain in the Stoic habit of periodically imagining my life without that goodness so my appreciation remains nice and sharp, along with my awareness that a life without luxuries would be less awesome but still a life, and that's a lot.) <br />
<br />
Anyway, this theory is evolving, and I'm curious what other folks think of it. If the word "Evil" doesn't do it for you, "awfulness" is fine with me. The underlying point "if it sucks, fear probably causes it on some deep level," remains.<br />
<br />
What to do about that is another question.<br />
<br />
CC<br />
<br />
<br />
*Yes, I was raised Presbyterian, I know that you can kick 1 Timothy 6:10 at me and tell me that love of money is the root of all evil. I tend to think really all of your basic greed sins (Money, sex, food are your classics) come from fear that you won't have enough, of either the thing itself or the love comfort and safety it symbolizes for one. <br />
<br />
Counterpoint: if one googles "fear is the root of evil" one gets a few ernest people and a bunch of prosperity gospel types who say that fear is the root of evil so go ahead and love money. Jerks.<br />
<br />
** I remain astounded that the plot "Sherlock Holmes has moved to Sussex to keep bees, but he's bored. One day, he meets a precocious fourteen-year-old girl who is as smart as he is and take her on as an apprentice and they solve mysteries together" could possibly have produced one good book, to say nothing of the first six or so in the series though it gets uneven after that.<br />
<br />
I was telling someone I used to date about this series and he, ungallantly, I thought, asked "How long does it take Sherlock to hit that?" and I had to confess two books, though in that time he does wait for her to grow up. Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-40754359231620170962016-02-10T22:41:00.000-05:002016-02-10T22:44:20.782-05:00Turns out you CAN go home again. I see <a href="http://wondermark.com/c119/"> things like this</a> and I'm all "thank goodness I don't blog anymore." and then I'm like "Shit, I started blogging again."<br />
<br />
<br />
CC<br />
who, on reader request, added the subscription gadget to the upper right corner so that you can put your email in there and get every post by email. I will tweet them too. Goodness we've come a long way since the heady days of 2010. Warning: If you subscribe, you might get three versions of a post because I am a terrible proofreader and I always see something to fix.<br />
<br />
Ps. Have started rereading <i>The Gift of Fear. </i>Cheyenne is right, de Becker uses "intuition" in a very specific way. I'm not sure I agree with him, but that's another post. Not tonight's post, though.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-84346149706988412982016-02-10T00:12:00.000-05:002016-02-10T00:12:15.954-05:00Smart friends ask me good questions. In the comments on my last post, my friend Lisa asked me <i>"I'm curious to know why you see yourself as a maker of bad decisions. A decision could be a good one, given all available data, even if the outcome isn't what you'd hoped for."</i><br />
<br />
That's a good question. In truth, I very much like the person I am and the decisions I've made have made me the person I am, so I'm not sure I regret them. <br />
<br />
At the same time, I linked to a "Bad Decision Dinosaur" comic where the dinosaur is cheering on Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. People know that Napoleon ended up invading Russia in the winter and that's how it ends up in snarky comics, but Napoleon started with Smolensk in August. The Russian army just kept retreating, and kept burning villages as it retreated to starve the French. The French had never seen this tactic before and were like "What the hell, Tsar Alexander?"<br />
<br />
Arguably Napoleon's problem wasn't invading Russia in August, it was getting himself deeper and deeper and not knowing when to quit. Maybe that's where I meant to say my problem was. <br />
<br />
I had dinner with my friend Cheyenne, who had read yesterday's post and felt like I wasn't really understanding de Becker's point about Intuition. As fear is, I think, going to be a theological point for me, (Katy the Wise and I have discussed whether it is the root of evil), I feel like I should reread de Becker's book. It's available on Kindle Unlimited, so now it's on my list. <br />
<br />
CC<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-72266833635367888722016-02-08T22:45:00.002-05:002016-02-09T13:16:39.583-05:00Bad decision dinosaur roars again. I identify with <a href="http://catandgirl.com/?p=541"> this dinosaur. </a><br />
<br />
<i>“intuition is always right in at least two important ways;</i><br />
<i>It is always in response to something.</i><br />
<i>it always has your best interest at heart” </i><br />
― Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence<br />
<br />
I've been thinking about this quotation today, to say that I've been "meditating on it" is to give myself entirely too much credit. Now de Becker is a really smart dude, his book is brilliant, but I feel like he also is giving me too much credit. My intuition, at least, responds to a very loose definition of "something" and I'm pretty sure there are times when my still small voice wants carrot cake, which is not to say it really has my best interests at heart. <br />
<br />
I see myself as a maker of bad decisions. Now, mind you, I've made a couple of excellent major life decisions. TheCSO is the best example. In general, I surround myself with wonderful people. But when it comes to pretty much everything else, I kinda suck. "When should I go to law school?" "Is this a good time to buy a house?" "Do I want a PhD in Political Science?"* And then there's the whole "let's graduate from college in 2000 and try to get a journalism job" thing. <br />
<br />
Life has a lot of chaos to it, and I'm not convinced that my intuition isn't always just telling me what I think I want to hear. Am I really following clues to a mystery that is me? Or am I hearing hoofbeats and unable to think of anything but zebras, then disappointing myself when ordinary horses go by?<br />
<br />
One time I had a dream where I spent hours in a forest, trying to figure out a solution to a puzzle carved into a tree. Eventually, I woke up. There was no solution, because it was just a fucking dream. This is the other side of seeking life's bids for attention, and my skepticism of the concept kicking in. Sometimes a memento mori is just a dead bird on the sidewalk.<br />
<br />
At the very least, one of the things I'm looking for in this reflection project is to figure out how I make the decisions I make, in hopes that I can do better. At this point the "what if I fuck up?" factor that I work into major life decisions is quite high and that's not a comfortable place to be. <br />
<br />
Discernment. Easy to spell, difficult to do. de Becker's book goes into how to do some of it around fear, though he's a greater believer in intuition than I am. Perhaps his intuition about scary situations has proved correct because he's an expert on fear. I find the idea that "intuition" is just the rapid application of experience comforting, even though I'm not sure I believe it.<br />
<br />
My intuition tells me this: "If something's comforting, it's often not true."<br />
<br />
CC<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*No, I do not. I pursued one and dropped out before I even had a master's degree. "Chalicechick the terrible grad student" is a whole different set of stories.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-77523596614762750792016-02-07T23:27:00.001-05:002016-02-07T23:29:05.525-05:00"Attention must be paid"Drama nerds know this as what Linda Loman says about Willy toward the end of "Death of a Salesman."<br />
<br />
The relevant part of the quotation is:<br />
<br />
<i>"I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person."</i><br />
<br />
This quote is a double-edged sword for me. Minor Quibbles: First of all, on some level I'd rather all but my very favorite people paid less attention to me than more. Also, I've known some old dogs who have fallen into their graves after spending their lifetimes giving joy.<br />
<br />
Major Quibble: I want to have lived a life of significance, but I find paying attention to all sorts of things very difficult. I'm not sure if it's more work for me or if I'm just not very good at it, and those things are not mutually exclusive. Could I be addicted to distraction? I spend most of my quiet moments having conversations with myself in my head. Some of them are replaying past conversations, sometimes I'm preparing for a conversation in the future. But whatever I'm doing, I'm not listening to the world around me. <br />
<br />
"Good conversations" and "driving" are when I do my best attention-paying. And even with those my attention can be suboptimal.<br />
<br />
What is my attention so afraid of? And if I can figure out that thing, will it lead me to the significance I want.<br />
<br />
I guess those are my questions for today.<br />
<br />
CCChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-10826401650223477802016-02-06T22:20:00.001-05:002016-02-06T22:20:22.581-05:00"Please, tell me about your journey of self-discovery" said no one ever. Every few months, I try to reread <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/happily-ever-after/372573/"> this article. </a> The TLDR* of it is this: A happy marriage boils down to following up on your spouse's attempts to telling you things.<br />
<br />
If TheCSO has read a news article on, say, a new major transportation project and pops in to tell me about it, the way to stay married is to get enthusiastic about what makes her enthusiastic rather than being an asshole and making a big show of not caring. <br />
<br />
The article puts it more nicely. <br />
<br />
But that's the bones. When your spouse is trying to tell you something, they are making what the article, and the research underlying it, call a "bid for attention." In happy marriages, people response positively to those. <br />
<br />
I've been married for going on twelve years and I've listened with interest to descriptions of innumerable transportation projects. One of the great secrets to married life is that if you married a smart and awesome person, many of their interests are likely to be smart and awesome as well. If you listen when they talk, soon you're invested in those interests too. <br />
<br />
Anyway, I work pretty hard at this wife thing. I like to think that I respond fairly well to my friends' bids for attention too. <br />
<br />
But recently, I've been thinking over my theology and my philosophy of life, to the degree that I have those things. As I've tried to articulate what's important to me and how I can focus my life around those values, I've started to wonder, what if there are bids of attention from the world and the way I see it that I've been ignoring? So I'm starting to make a practice of mindfully pursuing my yearnings, mostly the nerdier sorts, and look for what I might be trying to tell myself. And I'm going to write about it, because truly I don't know what I'm thinking until I've written it out. <br />
<br />
If this revived blog has a goal, it is that, to watch the world more carefully for invitations to think harder about things and to find meaning in new places, and to chronicle me wandering through the world more attentively and what I find when I do.<br />
CC<br />
<br />
<br />
*Internet for "Too Long; Didn't read" also known as an "executive summary."Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-4640943948403867542016-02-06T19:56:00.002-05:002016-02-07T23:30:30.790-05:00Back again, for a limited engagement maybeI'm in a theological study group at church and we've been talking about spiritual practices. I'm trying to find a new spiritual practice* myself.<br />
<br />
"You have such a way with words," one person suggested. "Have you thought about journaling?"
The conversation continued in this vein for a bit.<br />
<br />
Finally, I thought, "Well, I used to have a place where I did something sort of like that."
So I'm going to give it another shot. Don't know if I'm going to stay with it, but I'm going to try.<br />
<br />
I'll post my first substantive post about that tonight.<br />
<br />
But first, an FAQ, because I love FAQs.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: Welcome Back! I've missed you!</b><br />
A: Thanks, though you don't have to. You can always follow me on Twitter. I'm Chalicechick there too. I tend to be pretty liberal about friending on Facebook, too.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: What's up?</b><br />
A: Not a whole lot. The big news is that TheCSO is undergoing gender transition. We wrote an entire FAQ about that, and I've posted it below. Other than that, I got out of law school, got a law job that pays the bills and I go to the same church and mostly have the same friends. I have a Goddaughter now, you'll probably hear about her. The dog died. That was sad. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: So, what are you going to be writing about?</b><br />
A: My personal life, hunt for a personal theology/philosophy of life and the same sort of cultural criticism stuff I liked to write before. Funny stuff that happens to me.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: So what AREN'T you going to be writing much about?</b><br />
A: My job, national politics (I lean Clinton, FWIW), UUA politics (I lean Miller, FWIW), won't go too far into transgender issues. There are smarter people writing better things on that last topic especially. I also don't write about my own church. The minister shouldn't have to worry about critiques of her sermon showing up here on Sunday afternoons. They won't.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: How will this ChaliceBlog be different?</b><br />
A: I'm going to be heavier on comment moderation. I have less patience than I used to, and less time. I'm also probably not going to get into as many big arguments. Again, less patience, less time. If you want an interactive medium, try Twitter. My plan at least is to use this as a bit more of a broadcast medium. Also, both Nora Ephron and the UUA Washington Office are gone and have not been replaced with equivalent targets for snark. I confess I've mellowed a bit in that department in general. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: How can I foil your plan to use this as a broadcast medium?</b><br />
A: Write brilliant insightful comments I can't resist responding to. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: Are you going to stick around?</b><br />
A: In this format, I don't know. But I'm extremely active on Facebook and moderately so on Twitter.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: How can I encourage you to stick around?</b><br />
A: Write brilliant insightful comments I can't resist responding to. <br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
<br />
CC<br />
who suspects these questions would not be asked frequently, indeed not much at all, but enjoys interviewing herself. <br />
<br />
<br />
*Which I define as a way to connect me to that which is greater than myself, one way or another. Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-84066147494136794952016-02-06T19:30:00.001-05:002016-02-06T19:39:00.208-05:00Chalicechick and TheCSO's Gender FAQPosted to Facebook 07.19.2015.<br />
<br />
This is the same document with only minor edits, plus our names changed per the conventions of this blog.<br />
<br />
So, hi, we’ve got an announcement. <br />
<br />
TheCSO has made the decision to undergo gender transition. We’ve told a few people about this, but since we’re telling everyone en masse at this point, we thought an FAQ might come in handy:
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The easy questions:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Q: So TheCSO is female now?</b><br />
A: TheCSO is in between, but on the female side. <br />
<br />
<b>Q. What pronoun does TheCSO prefer?</b><br />
A: TheCSO likes “she” or “they.” Chalicechick does not like “they” truth be told, as to her it sounds awkward and confusing. So she talked around pronouns when TheCSO was concerned and considered TheCSO’s pronoun “TheCSO” as an interim step. This wasn’t TheCSO’s favorite approach but the biggie is to avoid male pronouns. Chalicechick is using “she” and female-gendered terms like “wife” now.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Q: I’ve called TheCSO “he” for years, what if I call TheCSO the wrong thing?</b><br />
A: That’s cool. We know this isn’t easy and TheCSO understands genuine mistakes are going to happen. Chalicechick still slips up every now and again.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:Is TheCSO keeping the name “TheCSO”?</b><br />
A: That’s the plan.<br />
<br />
The complicated questions:<br />
<br />
<b>Q. How long has TheCSO wanted to do this?</b><br />
A: A long time. TheCSO came out to Chalicechick in college, years before we got married. She has always known this was a possibility, but TheCSO didn’t feel like fully transitioning to female and when we first got together and being “in between” was more or less unheard of outside of the gender activist community. Chalicechick was concerned about the societal consequences of having to constantly explain that TheCSO had a gender that nobody else seemed to have. Now that TheCSO’s career is in a good place, our marriage is totally safe and genderqueer and trans folks are becoming more and more common, the timing seemed right. TheCSO’s tired of being uncomfortable.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: A lot of transsexuals get fired, are you worried about that?</b><br />
A: For TheCSO’s employer to fire TheCSO for that reason would be a violation of both their company policy and the DC Human Rights Act, which covers TheCSO’s workplace in DC. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: Are you guys going to stay married?</b><br />
A: Yup. We’re still in love.<br />
<br />
<b>Q. Will the state of Virginia still recognize your marriage? Sure, gay marriage is legal there now, but Virginia is conservative and that could change again?</b><br />
A: This question was answered at length in previous versions of the FAQ, but is now irrelevant. Thanks, Justice Kennedy!<br />
<br />
<b>Q: I feel like I’m really close to you guys, but you never talked about this with me before, and you’ve known for like SIXTEEN YEARS? What gives?</b><br />
A. We get feeling that way and we’re sorry. This stuff is not easy to explain and while we’re centered about the basics of it and committed to approaching it as a team, the details are a lot of stress. Sometimes it’s a big comfort to just talk about other things. If one or both of us has hung out with you and confided in you about other things or just done fun stuff with you, you’ve been more help than you know. Thank you and we’re sorry if you feel we took too long to let you in. Please don’t think that we didn’t tell you because we thought you would react badly, if we thought that we wouldn’t have been your friend in the first place.<br />
<br />
<b>The hard questions that make us a little cranky:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Q: Is Chalicechick a lesbian now?</b><br />
A: She’s not much on labels. She didn’t marry TheCSO’s gender, she married TheCSO. That said, she did know about this all along, so… kinda? If you want to look at it that way? We don’t though. We do consider ourselves a woman married to a woman though. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: Is TheCSO having surgery?</b><br />
A: We know our friends would generally be too polite to ask this very personal question, but we also figured they might want to know. No, TheCSO has no plans to have surgery of any type. But TheCSO is on hormones and has been for over a year. If you have other medical questions, feel free to ask in person, we’d rather not go into more detail on this forum.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: What if I think TheCSO’s still a guy and feel the need to say so?</b><br />
A: Then it’s best if you save everyone some pain and unfriend us now. We don’t have anything else to say to one another. If you want to stay friends with us, don’t talk about that to us because we don’t consider her gender an issue for debate. <br />
<br />
<b>Summing up:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Q: So how can I help Chalicechick be more comfortable in this weird time?</b><br />
A: She’s good. It IS a weird time but her and TheCSO’s support system, (if you’re reading this you’re probably part of it) has been wonderful. We’re very privileged as couples dealing with these issues go. Mostly, she’s grateful. <br />
<br />
<b>Q: So how can I help TheCSO be more comfortable in this weird time?</b><br />
A: Use “she” or “they” or talk around pronouns, try not to use male gendered language. Ask questions. TheCSO’s glad to help and would rather talk about it than leave people wondering.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: I’m glad you guys are good, but what if being your friend makes me want to reach out to other people dealing with gender issues?</b><br />
A: That’s awesome of you. We are in a position of enormous privilege and we know it. But not everyone is as lucky as we are and there are some folks who could absolutely use your help. We’d be really grateful, and you could do a lot of good, if you help out one of the following organizations:<br />
<br />
• Rainbow Youth Alliance: http://rainbowyouthalliancemd.org/<br />
• Trans Housing Network: http://www.transhousingnetwork.com/<br />
• Whitman-Walker: http://www.whitman-walker.org/<br />
<br />Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-45781980524763439772012-06-27T01:00:00.001-04:002012-06-27T01:00:27.717-04:00As y'all know, I wasn't a fan.<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/nora-ephron-prolific-author-and-screenwriter-dies-at-age-71/2012/06/26/gJQAMOtN5V_story.html?hpid=z1">Still, I'm sorry to hear of hear death.</a>
CCChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-14042688486701170872011-11-01T21:50:00.001-04:002011-11-01T21:52:03.655-04:0011/1 Roundup of stuff I like.First off, a poem:<br /><br />Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing<br /><br />The world is full of women<br />who'd tell me I should be ashamed of myself<br />if they had the chance. Quit dancing.<br />Get some self-respect<br />and a day job.<br />Right. And minimum wage,<br />and varicose veins, just standing<br />in one place for eight hours<br />behind a glass counter<br />bundled up to the neck, instead of <br />naked as a meat sandwich.<br />Selling gloves, or something.<br />Instead of what I do sell.<br />You have to have talent <br />to peddle a thing so nebulous<br />and without material form.<br />Exploited, they'd say. Yes, any way<br />you cut it, but I've a choice<br />of how, and I'll take the money.<br /><br />I do give value.<br />Like preachers, I sell vision,<br />like perfume ads, desire<br />or its facsimile. Like jokes<br />or war, it's all in the timing.<br />I sell men back their worse suspicions:<br />that everything's for sale,<br />and piecemeal. They gaze at me and see<br />a chain-saw murder just before it happens,<br />when thigh, ass, inkblot, crevice, tit, and nipple<br />are still connected.<br />Such hatred leaps in them,<br />my beery worshippers! That, or a bleary<br />hopeless love. Seeing the rows of heads <br />and upturned eyes, imploring<br />but ready to snap at my ankles,<br />I understand floods and earthquakes, and the urge <br />to step on ants. I keep the beat,<br />and dance for them because<br />they can't. The music smells like foxes,<br />crisp as heated metal<br />searing the nostrils<br />or humid as August, hazy and languorous<br />as a looted city the day after,<br />when all the rape's been done<br />already, and the killing,<br />and the survivors wander around<br />looking for garbage<br />to eat, and there's only a bleak exhaustion.<br />Speaking of which, it's the smiling<br />tires me out the most. <br />This, and the pretence<br />that I can't hear them.<br />And I can't, because I'm after all<br />a foreigner to them.<br />The speech here is all warty gutturals,<br />obvious as a slab of ham,<br />but I come from the province of the gods<br />where meanings are lilting and oblique.<br />I don't let on to everyone,<br />but lean close, and I'll whisper:<br />My mother was raped by a holy swan.<br />You believe that? You can take me out to dinner. <br />That's what we tell all the husbands.<br />There sure are a lot of dangerous birds around.<br /><br />Not that anyone here<br />but you would understand.<br />The rest of them would like to watch me<br />and feel nothing. Reduce me to components<br />as in a clock factory or abattoir.<br />Crush out the mystery.<br />Wall me up alive<br />in my own body. <br />They'd like to see through me, <br />but nothing is more opaque<br />than absolute transparency.<br />Look--my feet don't hit the marble!<br />Like breath or a balloon, I'm rising,<br />I hover six inches in the air<br />in my blazing swan-egg of light.<br />You think I'm not a goddess?<br />Try me.<br />This is a torch song.<br />Touch me and you'll burn. <br /><br />Margaret Atwood<br /><br />Blog post:<br /><br />Friend of the Chaliceblog Joel Monka tells an amazing story about the work he's been doing in his <a href="http://cuumbaya.blogspot.com/2011/11/captive-samhain.html">Prison Ministry</a><br /><br />Blog:<br /> <br />I'm really loving <a href="http://amidprivilege.com/">Privilege.</a> It is a fashion blog, but like all good fashion blogs it is about a lot more. Also the author is a wonderful writer. <br /><br />Product:<br />I've never had any real knack for lipstick, but you wouldn't know it to see me in <A href="http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P243804&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=5984"> Buxom's Big and Healthy Lip Stick.</a> Idiot proof, I promise. <br /><br />Non-fiction book:<br />When I was studying for the bar, I was doing a crazy (for me, probably not for you if you're physically fit) amount of cardio and some strength training besides because of <A href="http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317865598&sr=8-1">The Spark,</a> a book by John J. Ratey on how exercise is incredibly good for your brain. I'e slacked off a bit since starting the day job, but I'm hoping to get back into the routine because I felt great. <br /><br />Fiction:<br />I think Peter Abrahams' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Crime-Peter-Abrahams/dp/0345426800">A Perfect Crime</a> might be the best crime novel I've ever read. Complicated and darkly funny, with amazing dialogue, every word of it is a joy. I'll go ahead and say there are some pretty big coincidences in it that might stretch credulity, but I sit here the grandchild of two women who lived down the street from each other in Texas as little girls but never met until their children met in North Carolina and decided to get married, so coincidences don't bother me so much in fiction. Anyway, Abrahams has a bit of a Carl Hiaasen vibe, but with the zaniness taken down a notch. I will probably read all his work eventually, though for the moment I'm reading Michael Connelly's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poet-Michael-Connelly/dp/0446602612">The Poet</a> which is so far perfectly enjoyable if not quite as well-written as "A Perfect Crime."<br /><br />Movie: <br />I went to London for a few weeks about a decade ago and while I was there, I got very sick. There was a Hitchcock movie marathon on and I watched a lot of it. For whatever reason <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Doubt-Teresa-Wright/dp/B000CCW2SY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317864165&sr=8-1">Shadow of a Doubt</a> was the one that really captured my imagination. I haven't seen it in some time, but if you're up for a low-key thriller you should really check it out. I loved it. <br /><br />Song:<br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wd1owKBt8dU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-69597178412647522512011-10-14T13:27:00.001-04:002011-10-14T13:28:29.009-04:00On Passing the BarCoworker: When's your swearing-in?<br /><br />Me: Halloween.<br /><br />Coworker: You should get sworn-in in costume.<br /><br />Me: I think I'm going to feel like I'm wearing a lawyer costume.<br /><br />Coworker: Yeah, it always feels like that for awhile. <br /><br />CCChalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-28262358380004171802011-09-23T22:20:00.007-04:002011-09-24T00:28:33.003-04:00A scattered roundup of stuff I likePoetry.<br />First off, I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but PoemHunter.com just sent me this again. I like to use it as a chalice lighting for youth stuff, though I don't have it memorized: <br /><br /><em>Summons <br /><br />Keep me from going to sleep too soon <br />Or if I go to sleep too soon <br />Come wake me up. Come any hour <br />Of night. Come whistling up the road. <br />Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door. <br />Make me get out of bed and come <br />And let you in and light a light. <br />Tell me the northern lights are on <br />And make me look. Or tell me clouds <br />Are doing something to the moon <br />They never did before, and show me. <br />See that I see. Talk to me till <br />I'm half as wide awake as you <br />And start to dress wondering why <br />I ever went to bed at all. <br />Tell me the walking is superb. <br />Not only tell me but persuade me. <br />You know I'm not too hard persuaded. <br /><br />Robert Francis </em><br /><br />Short Fiction.<br />I was facebook chatting with a friend and he told me about <a href="http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/o_henry/62/">this short story.</a> The ChaliceMom is a big O. Henry fan, but I don't recall reading that one in any of her collections, though I'm sure it was there. I've read what was essentially the same story in a Roald Dahl short story collection, but I liked O. Henry's version better. <br /><br />Long fiction<br />I'm parway through Will Ferguson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Novel-Will-Ferguson/dp/006052510X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1316836371&sr=8-6">Happiness</a> but I don't know if I will make it all the way. Comic novels are often like cheesecake for me. Each individual bite is great, but at some point, ick. Still, the bites have been good so far. <br /><br />I've also been rereading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Loves-Frank-Harris/dp/0802151612">My Life and Loves</a> by Frank Harris. I realize my love of bawdy novels is not a universal thing, but this one seriously isn't that bad and it is a great read. <br /><br />Movies. <br />OK, I haven't SEEN this, but the preview makes it look like exactly my sort of thing<br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zf4IlHaPRUg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Short Non-Fiction<br /><a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/09/southern-american-english?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/yallhearthis"> The Economist, of all places,</a> gives a shoutout to people who talk the way I do. <br /><br />Non-Fiction. <br />I know a lot of you have probably read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Bone-Growing-Random-Readers/dp/0812981111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316831435&sr=8-1">Tender at the Bone</a> but I was telling a friend about it the other day, so I thought I'd mention it here. It is the the memoir of a former food critic for the New York Times, and it isn't even about her food critic years, though <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Garlic-Sapphires-Secret-Critic-Disguise/dp/0143036610/ref=pd_sim_b1">she has written a good book about those too.</a> I can't even really describe what I like about this book in that my memory is there are parts that arn't all that compelling. All lives have uninteresting years, I suppose. But when Reichel's life is interesting, it really is. Her childhood has some things in common with mine, which made that part an extremely compelling read. <br /><br />Also, because I'm a huge nerd, I've been keeping <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roberts-Rules-Dummies-Alan-Jennings/dp/0764575740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316835597&sr=8-1">Robert's Rules of Order for Dummies</a> next to my bathtub for long sessions of bubble bath and procedural law. Don't knock it <br />'til ya tried it, kids. <br /><br />Webcomics. <br />I've recently started reading <a href="http://www.sexdrugsandjunecleaver.com/">Sex, Drugs and June Cleaver,</a> mostly because I met the author at a con and became a big fan of her as a human being. I've been sticking some of my favorites from her archives on Facebook. <br /><br />Shows. <br />I haven't been to a good gallery show in a long time, but I saw <a href="http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/daleinfo.shtm">this</a> at the National Gallery with Melina in May, and it is a great show. While it was too broad to be a good show for learning all that much about what I'm looking at and how it all connects, but I got to renew my crush on Modigliani, so that's something. <br />I feel like I'm a bad abstract expressionism fan if I don't make it up to the DeKooning show at MOMA before it closes at the end of the year, at the same time, I think I'd rather go see the Zaha Hadid show in Philly. If anybody wants to make plans to see either of those, I'm there. Seeing Mary-who-Dances and going to <a href="http://store.fabulousfannys.com/catalog">Fabulous Fanny's</a> might make the DeKooning show a winner after all. <br /><br />Blogs. <br />Too many to name, but I started reading <a href="http://theinclusivechurch.wordpress.com/">this one</a> today and have already learned a lot. <br /><br />Music<br />I've been listening to a lot of Bird and the Bee recently:<br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5D2Orp3Y98k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />CC<br />who is also on book four of the Dresden files, FWIW. I'm told they get better.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864334.post-12229813941039675202011-09-12T18:08:00.005-04:002011-09-12T21:12:13.838-04:009/11 DisconnectionI've been going back and forth for nearly 48 hours over whether to write this. <br /><br />That usually means I shouldn't. <br /><br />But I was ready to drive home from work today and the sky opened up. A smarter person would use this valuable quiet office time to catch up on work, but I've had a pretty productive day and I don't think I'm going to. <br /><br />Because something's bothering me. <br /><br />I didn't realize how much really until I was thinking over a dream I had yesterday. In my dream someone was telling me how cold I was, a charge I've heard before though rarely from my own mind. <br /><br />The 10th anniversary of 9/11 really didn't resonate with me. I'm a little weirded out, partially because I follow a lot of awesome and spiritual people on twitter. All of yesterday, my twitter feed and my facebook feed were an ever-pumping heart of emotion. Sadness, even despondency, at the loss, anger at the Bush administration, it was all there and vital and real. <br /><br />I watched it all unmoved. <br /><br />I retweeted something at some point about how we should watch porn to prove the terrorists didn't win. Over dinner, theCSO pointed out that they did win. I countered that they hadn't gotten exactly what they wanted to the degree that they wanted, but yeah, he has a point. Malcolm Gladwell argues in one of his books that the amount of time we spend on TSA related delays adds up to 14 lifetimes a year. <br />I don't take Malcolm Gladwell as fact, but that's at least truthy. <br /><br />Even still, what's 14 lives? Seriously. 14 people will easily have died in the amount of time it takes you to read this blog post. Does it really matter if they choke on hamburgers or suffer kidney failure or die in a terrorist attack?<br /><br />It isn't that national events don't effect me. A good look at my blog archive reveals a woman who kinda whacked out when Hurricane Katrina beat up the City of <br />New Orleans and the government left her for dead. Ok, that's not what happened, but that's still how it feels years later. <br /><br />9-11 doesn't have that resonance for me. And I'm not sure why because the two events have a lot in common. I've never lived in New York like I did in New Orleans, but I like New York and strongly associate it with Mary-who-Dances. I do view both events as essentially natural disasters. I don't know that either disaster could have been prevented but strongly suspect not. I do know that both could have been handled a lot better in the aftermath. <br /><br />Maybe it is just that I feel like America cared about 9-11 and I still have a sense of betrayal, just or no,* about New Orleans. <br /><br />After Hurricane Katrina, one of my coworkers said "I hear there are people in New Orleans who are shooting at the cops."<br /><br />I said something flip about them likely being the same crackheads who are always shooting at the cops, the only difference was that now the narrative was being used to let us think that the victims deserved what they got. <br /><br />Ok, I don't think I put it that well at the time but it is what I meant and I think that might be part of what's bothering me. The huge line between mostly rich white people (like me) being unquestionably heroes and mostly poor black people (not like me) being looters and ungrateful and spendthrifts and everything else that was lobbied at them. (You think no 9/11 survivor got a boob job with some of the money? I suspect someone did, though I don't know. But we know for certain that a Katrina victim spent government aid money on one. The media made rather a big point of it.)<br /><br />I love my friends and I'm sure a lot of the stuff that has been written about 9/11 is moving and awesome and helpful to the people for whom this crisis is still a real wound that is deeply felt. But the only thing I've read on the topic that has really meant anything to me was Laura Miller's essay <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/911/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/09/10/9_11_and_the_novel">Why we haven't seen a great 9-11 novel</a> because she says what I've trying to articulate to myself for some time**:<br /><br /><i>a firefighter who dies trying to pull people from a garden-variety house fire in Queens is no less brave or heroic. The civilians who perish in that fire or in a six-car pileup caused by black ice on an interstate or in a boat caught in a sudden storm or in a massacre by a gun-toting maniac in an IHOP are just as dead and just as fiercely mourned by their friends and family as those who died on 9/11.</i><br /><br />Miller goes on to say that 9/11 was a tragedy made to be a media spectacle, made to force us to look on a real-live Micheal Bay movie. Once you're past that, the deaths don't fundamentally differ from any other deaths, the heroism no different from any other heroism. And like for the rest of life, there is no easy narrative that perfectly suits what we've always thought politically, despite many people's desire to create one. <br /><br />So, that's where I am on 9-11. And I know nobody was sitting on the edge of their seat going <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/luann-creator-wrestling-with-how-to-address-terror,1431/">"but what does CHALICECHICK think about 9-11?"</a> but I guess part of me needed to see someone other than Laura Miller be the cold one who doesn't quite get it. <br /><br />CC<br /><br />EDIT: I got a very kind and smart email from a nice person who pointed out that I am friended with a whole lot of ministers who were trying to reach out and care for those around them, something that it wasn't as much my job to do. That's an excellent point and one that should have been obvious to me, but wasn't. <br /><br />*Yes, I'm aware that I'm the one who relentlessly pushes FBI statistics on crime in border towns and doesn't care how people *FEEL* about the crime rate due to immigration in the face of the fact that Arizona cities have comparitively low crime rates. The difference here is that I'm not trying to legislate my arguably irrational and unsupported-by-fact feelings. Arizonans did. <br /><br />**To clarify, I recall being as upset as anybody else in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.Chalicechickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07781469958573869914noreply@blogger.com2